Midnight Blue
by Mynuet
Summary: The first of several sequels to Tryptich, an earlier fic of mine. Amelia leaves the group and Zelgadis goes to the desert.
1. Midnight Blue

His arms tightened around me and I felt his face burrowing closer, moving my collar around so that his cheek rested on the nape of my neck, the warmth of my skin soothing him, as it always did. He mumbles something and shifts, then settles down so that his chest presses firmly against my back. The first time, it had startled me, and I thought he had woken, but I've grown accustomed to his night patterns and I know by now that he's still asleep and this won't be the night I'm discovered.  
  
I've suspected, sometimes, that there have been times when his sleep was lighter than it seemed and he knew that he was holding me, a breathing teddy bear to chase the night terrors away with the scent and feel of a loving body. There had even been once or twice that one of the others woke up before I had the chance to sneak off to my own bedroll, watching me silently as I slipped out of his grasp, never commenting or teasing. I had always left before he woke up, or at least, if he woke up, he pretended to sleep still, since he lacked the courage to admit his need for comfort, for companionship, for the simple joy of human contact. Only in his sleep does he reach out.  
  
I pulled myself from his arms, slowly and gently, so as not to wake him. A faint purple glow on the horizon signaled the end of the last night that I would lay in his arms. I gathered my things for today's travels and allowed myself to think about how it had all started, my tearing off a small piece of my heart each night.  
  
He had been having a nightmare. The others were soundly asleep when I heard him trashing, mumbling incoherently, his body shaking and his face pulled into tight, agonized lines. I reached out, not sure what to do, but vaguely remembering my father shaking me awake when I had bad dreams as a little girl. He gave a small, strangled scream, just the words "No, grandfather" and my heart wrenched. I knelt beside him and picked up his hand, intending to wake him up gently. I found my hand seized and dragged to his neck, tucked under his chin as if he never intended to let go.  
  
As I knelt there, my hand trapped firmly, trying to decide what to do, his convulsions started lessening and I realized that was the sum total of what he needed - just a simple human touch, something he denied himself because of his form. On impulse, I had lain beside him and held him, rocking him like a child until he slept peacefully. It had become a habit, an addiction. The love I couldn't express during the day, I could at night. The same comfort I gave, I received, the stone of his skin surprisingly warm and comfortable.  
  
It's kind of ironic that I never dreamed of a knight in shining armor. No, my knight wore midnight blue, and instead of riding in on his white horse to save me, he and I walked together, fighting side by side and laughing with each other, bringing justice to the world and happiness to each other. Beautiful days passing by, finding beautiful ways of loving each other, all in a cloud of gorgeous, wonderful midnight blue.  
  
My midnight blue knight has no interest in justice, or in bringing happiness to me. He can't, or won't believe in me, in love... In anything except his "cure". I can see the road stretching in front of him, growing as desperate as Rezo had, not realizing that his main problem isn't in his form, but in his name for himself: Freak.   
  
My things are packed, and everything is ready. I sit, stirring the embers of the fire to new life, waiting for at least one of my companions to wake up. I feel moisture on my cheeks and I wipe it away, determined to do what's right, even if it's hard. Lina wakes up in time to see me and she sits up and says my name, softly. I stand up and gather my things, wanting to get this parting over with quickly. "I'm going home, Miss Lina."  
  
"Why, Amelia?"  
  
"I promised my father I would come home and allow myself to be courted when I reached my birthday. Since Randy and Alfred are dead and my sister and Uncle Christopher both renounced their claims to the throne, I'm the only one left to ensure the royal succession." I swallowed hard, fighting against the urge to cry. If only Randy and Alfred hadn't been so determined to steal the throne, I would have gladly given it to either of them in order to be free to follow my heart. I couldn't, however, leave my country to be torn apart by battles over who would take the throne after my daddy was gone.   
  
"Courted? But... I thought..." She shook her head, obviously trying to gather her thoughts. "I thought you and Zelgadis-"  
  
"No. No matter what I hoped for, I'm not enough, and it wouldn't be just to let my people worry about the future of the kingdom while I wait for something that may never happen." She looked like she was going to say something else, but I held up a hand to stop her. "Please come and visit me whenever you can, Miss Lina. I'd like to hear about... About everything."  
  
She stood up and walked over to me, awkwardly attempting to give me a hug. I hugged her back, tightly, and allowed myself a moment to let go some of the tears I had been holding back. "Please tell Mr. Gourry that I'll miss him, and that he can come learn to be a hero of justice whenever he wants." I turned to leave, trudging away from the people who had shared the happiest times of my life.   
  
"What should I say to Zel? He's going to take it hard, Amelia." I bit my lip, trying to think of how to answer that. Words I had never said, would never say, swept through my mind and I pushed them aside.   
  
"Tell him..." I broke off, taking a deep breath. I felt a sudden chill as the impact of what I was doing sunk in, and I rubbed my arms together. Looking down, I noticed, in my peripheral vision, that one of his ears twitched. I quickly took the bracelet off my right wrist and held it out. "Tell him he has one year, and one year only, to bring this back. On the three hundred and sixty sixth day, he'll be denied entrance to the palace and I'll be planning my wedding to one of the suitors my father and the council have lined up for me."  
  
She took the bracelet and I turned slightly to observe his reaction. "Tell him that it doesn't matter if he comes tomorrow as a chimera or in a year and a day as a human, the condition still stands." Oh yeah, definite twitching. He'd even half opened one eye, then closed it quickly.  
  
Lina noticed it too and gave me a conspiratorial smile. "Well, good luck, Amelia. Warn the cooks that Gourry and I will be coming to your birthday party next year." She smacked me on the shoulder, her good cheer obvious in the return of her habitual violence. I smiled and walked away from the camp, heading towards my home and my future, knowing that I was doing the right thing, but still holding on to one last hope that my midnight blue knight would see the light.  
  
  
  
Author's Note:  
  
This fic is dedicated to the super cool Stara Maijka, for always saying nice things and for letting me beta read her "Here Comes the Bride" story, and for just being groovy in general. The story itself is a songfic, based on Electric Light Orchestra's song, "Midnight Blue". Lyrics can be found at http://www.zianet.com/rockaria/songs/midnightblue.html Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it. 


	2. Into the Desert

Into the Desert  
  
by Sharlene  
  
  
  
I wish I could stop her, throw my arms around her and beg her for a chance to show her what I feel.   
  
I won't.   
  
For months now I've gone through the agonies of the damned, having her so close and still not being able to reach out, to accept what she offers so freely. Now she's leaving and I want to stop her, but I can't. No matter how much I want to hold on to her, to strangle with my bare hands any popinjay who dares to think she could be his instead of mine, I can't. Honor demands that she go home and ensure the royal succession. How can I interfere with that? I don't even know if I _can_ father children, let alone whether they would be normal or if by their birth they would be condemned to be as freakish as Rezo made me. How can I ask her to choose between me and her kingdom and her father?   
  
I watch her talking to Lina from between my lashes, barely breathing as I hear her giving me one last hope. Then she walks away and I close my eyes, not wanting to see her leaving me behind. The scent of her rose soap still clings to my clothes and blankets, just as it has since the first night she slept with my arms around her.  
  
Gods, she's gorgeous when she sleeps. Her skin glows in the moonlight like the finest alabaster, the red of her lips and the onyx of her hair and eyelashes a sight almost painfully beautiful, but it's her serenity, the absolute peace and trust on her face as she holds me close that makes her seem like the angel she's been mistaken for before. An angel being held in a demon's arms.  
  
My conscience tried to tell me to let her go, to move away, to keep her from wasting her time on a monster like me. For once, my conscience was overruled by my heart, clinging to the one way I could accept her affection and show her even a small part of what I felt. I started to grow accustomed to the miracle of her touch and would pray for night to come early so I could revel in her closeness.  
  
I heard Lina and Gourry breaking camp and I broke away from my thoughts to get up and help. No one mentioned Amelia's absence and the three of us worked silently, performing out usual morning chores like automatons. After everything was packed and we were ready to leave, Lina walked over to me and held my hand out, open and palm up. She dropped the bracelet into my hand and then closed my fingers around it.  
  
Still holding my closed fist, she looked into my eyes, the crimson burning accusingly. "She's given you one year, Zel. If you don't get with it and figure out what both of you want, she's going to end up married to someone else. Can you really make her to spend the rest of her life married to someone else, someone she doesn't love, just because you haven't found your cure?"  
  
I couldn't answer that. My chest was frozen at the thought of all that had happened this morning. Could I survive, knowing that the right to hold her belonged to another man? It would tear me apart, and yet... Could I ask her to wait for however long it would take to find a cure, knowing I might never get it, never be human again? No. I love her too much to tie her to a freak, to expose her to the ridicule of others. If I could not find a cure in the year she had given me, I would stay away, go to a land far beyond the Barrier and never return. Better for her to be free and happy without thinking of me than to watch her marry another man and learn to pity my monstrous form.  
  
After a few moments, Lina sighed and said, "Gourry and I are going to catch up with Amelia and escort her home. Are you coming with us or going off by yourself?"  
  
She must have seen the answer in my eyes. "You're a coward, Zelgadis Greywords, and if you don't wise up and go to Amelia before the year is over, you're a fool."   
  
She turned and walked away, following the same path Amelia had taken earlier, not looking back once. Gourry clapped a hand on my shoulder and said "Good luck" before turning to follow Lina.  
  
All of the people I called friends were now gone. I was alone, with nothing and no one to distract me from finding a way to turn my body back to normal. Exactly what I'd wanted all along.  
  
It sucked.  
  
I started walking, trying to think of someplace I could go to search for a cure that I hadn't already searched in vain. I was toying with the idea of returning to the Valley of Dragons to ask Milgazia if I could see the Clair Bible when I felt a pair of hands cover my eyes and a familiar, used-horse-salesman voice say "Guess who!"  
  
"Xellos, I don't have time for your games. Go bother Lina." The fruitcake mazoku hovered in front of me, sitting cross-legged in thin air, sipping delicately from a teacup that looked suspiciously similar to the one Filia always used, right down to the small chip in the rim. He noticed the direction of my gaze and brushed his hands together, the cup disappearing only to be replaced by his staff.  
  
"Zelgie-poo, you always say the nicest things!" Xellos cooed, managing to bat his eyelashes without opening his eyes and giving me a sickeningly sweet smile that made me want to smash his face in... Even more than usual. I was ten feet away and still walking when his next words made me stop. "I know where your cure is."  
  
"You're lying." He had to be lying, trying to trick me so he could get a sick laugh at my expense, as he had before. Who could forget when he burned the Clair Bible manuscript pages that were in my hands, or the "Claire Bibble" fiasco, or any of the other countless times he made me dance to his tune? He had to be lying, and yet I couldn't walk away.  
  
He materialized in front of me, his staff at my neck and any trace of a smile gone from his face. His eyed bored into mine and he snarled, "You can be cured one of two ways. One is that you listen to what I have to say and the other is that I kill you right now. Either way, I need for you to be cured, and I'm not going to let you screw it up. So what's it going to be, rock boy?" I stared into his eyes and knew he meant every word. For some unknown reason, Xellos now wanted my cure to happen as badly as I did.  
  
And so I find myself in the desert, crossing harsh lands that are barren of life as far as the eye can see. I screw the cap back onto my canteen, Amelia's bracelet seeming to give me an encouraging wink. I carefully secure the two most precious things in my possession, my hope for survival in the desert and my hope for the future, and set off again, following the path that Xellos directed me on.  
  
Author's Note:  
  
Why did Xellos flip out about Zelgadis's cure, you ask? Because this story is the first of several sequels for an earlier fic, Tryptich. Check out L-Sama's instructions to Xellos in chapter 2, "Warrior, Sorcerer, General, Priest", and then keep an eye out for the next several stories, in which Sylphiel gets married, Xellos joins Zelgadis in the desert, and Lina and Gourry come face to face with the Knight of Ceipheed, Luna Inverse. 


End file.
